There has been increasing desire to manufacture vehicles that meet or exceed environmental improvement requirements. However, there is a considerable loss of aerodynamic efficiency in vehicles, in particular, pickup trucks and other vehicles having a storage bed, due to the airflow into the bed and over the tailgate.
Therefore, having parts with improved aerodynamics has become a well-received option typically effective toward helping to advance standards such as mileage requirements. There are also several other factors that must be considered including aerodynamic load, part weight, cost, complexity and durability.
Typical systems, such as fixed panels, or motorized deployable panels, do not meet requirements. Known systems do not have a proper sealed and clutchable actuator with communication capability and life cycle durability, object detection, are not transparent to the vehicle when the tailgate is down, and are not durable and aerodynamically effective. Conventional systems also have the potential to break or be damaged due to sliding objects in the pickup cargo bed. Typical systems also do not have the ability to detect objects in the event there is cargo/objects in the way during deployment.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art to provide an automatically deployable structure under predetermined conditions that provides improved aerodynamics.